Again, I think it is pointless to use ArtYah's Twitter click through to tweet on Twitter because the photos are too small and there is no way to click the photo and have it take you from Twitter to the listing on ArtYah.

Are you sure? When I click anywhere in the box, photo or description it has always taken me straight to the ArtYah listing which ever browser I am using (Firefox, Chrome, Edge)

Does anyone else have Tinseledwhisker's problem of the links not working from twitter?

They don't link for the large pictures (such as the ones I have done recently for my own listings) as they have been uploaded separately and I add the link in the twitter message.

[That's what I'm evaluating regarding my time management. If I don't have time to do consistently massive tweeting, if that is required to realize a good return, then the little time that I do devote to it is potentially wasted, and maybe that time would be better used in some other type of marketing activity.

I completely agree. Doing massive tweeting or any other form of social media, is not something any of us have time to do. This is why I do it as described above. What other types of marketing activity do you think might be more effective?]

I'm looking more into display ads, banner ads, directory listings, etc. Of course, these marketing avenues focus on our own products. I do think it's important to work at sharing others listings, If we are not selling much ourselves, however, then precious marketing time need to be spend building up our own enterprises. This type of advertising, once it's placed, paid for or not, nothing else has to be done. The time factor involved, and that would take away from social media time, is the research that needs to be done to identify the best opportunities.

Some sellers and others have pretty busy blogs where they offer banner advertising in the sidebar, for a length of time, for a small fee. The Craftsfair Online, and other directories, offer free/paid insertions. I'm a member of Project Wonderful, an easier model similar to Google Adsense, where banner ad space can be bought for $0-pennies+ at your choice of niche blog and website publishers who offer space through PW. I've used a lot of ad space with just a $5 investment into my account. I now have $2.62 in my acct. I don't have any ads running now, because I haven't taken time to search for sites. It takes time to evaluate and research these resources. At PW, filtered searches have to be done to pull up the types of websites where you feel your banner would bring the best return.

So social media is where most sellers turn to advertise, and where it's easiest to share the work of others. As with selling venues, some get a good return on that, but most do not, no matter how faithfully they promote. I believe that social media is becoming saturated and clogged just like the venues, with increasing, overwhelming competition. Not saying that it shouldn't be used at all, or that I'll stop, just that it's time for me to devote time to other types of marketing that will boost my own sales.

I'm using IE - yeah, I know it's a dinosaur - so maybe that is the issue.

Some things have come up and I've had to make the decision to stop selling online. I'll be letting the listings in my two ArtYah shops expire and then will have to close up the shops. I shut down my website earlier this week. Have been selling online since 2002 so this was not an easy decision but it is the right decision.

Wishing all of you the very best and oodles of sales. Hoping 2018 will be a banner year for sales.

Originally Posted by thetinseledwhiskerHi Ladies. Sorry for being MIA - again.

I'm using IE - yeah, I know it's a dinosaur - so maybe that is the issue.

Some things have come up and I've had to make the decision to stop selling online. I'll be letting the listings in my two ArtYah shops expire and then will have to close up the shops. I shut down my website earlier this week. Have been selling online since 2002 so this was not an easy decision but it is the right decision.

Wishing all of you the very best and oodles of sales. Hoping 2018 will be a banner year for sales.

Hi JaeSorry to hear you will be leaving us, hope things pick up for you, life, and more, does get in the way of things sometimes and you have to re-evaluate what you are doing and change direction. Still if you are not selling you can always stay in touch with us as a buyer but before you do go - how did your shop name come about, it has intrigued me since I first saw it?

Originally Posted by ChristineHi JaeSorry to hear you will be leaving us, hope things pick up for you, life, and more, does get in the way of things sometimes and you have to re-evaluate what you are doing and change direction. Still if you are not selling you can always stay in touch with us as a buyer but before you do go - how did your shop name come about, it has intrigued me since I first saw it?

My husband is needing more and more of my time and this will progress. Therefore, we have decided to make a complete lifestyle change and become nomatic camping and fishing and following the sun. The winters here are very hard on him and his doctors were so enthusiastic when we asked them about this stating it would be the very best thing for him. We are actually very excited about this change and have been planning and scaling down drastically in preparation. We want to spend time together doing what we both love. So, it wasn't a matter of no sales because sales through Craigslist for my vintage have been amazingly good. It's just a matter of setting new priorities and working together to improve our time together. It's a good thing.

As to Craigslist, I was always fearful about using it and having people come to our home. No more. We have met the best people ever. There have only been a couple of oddballs but we have everything outside in storage buildings and we don't let anyone inside the house and we only allow people to come during daylight hours. It has been especially nice for heavy items that would be expensive to ship. Yes, there are many horror stories about selling and buying on Craigslist but so far (knock on wood) we have not had any serious issues. Oh, and we only accept cash and won't allow PayPal purchases and won't ship. This stops the scammers.

As to The Tinseled Whisker, it came about when I was petting one of my cats on my lap. The sun shone through the window onto his whiskers and they glittered like tinsel. That was the inspiration and seemed to fit. Interestingly, one of the ladies that purchased some of my items for resale in her Etsy shop also has a shop name with the word whiskers in it. She told me that her cat stuck his face too close to a candle and his whiskers curled up and that was her inspiration for her shop name. OMG, we had so much in common, both business-wise and personally. Such a nice person. We ended up talking for a very long time. She's going to watch my ads and call me if something will work for her. I'll pull it and set it aside and when she's in the area she'll drop buy and pick them up.

I price some things high on Craigslist and some things low in groups to attract resellers. It all works. I even have some items as low as $1 - $3 listed and people do come and purchase them. I figure it's a dollar or two we wouldn't have so why not? To not list them is kind of like seeing a dollar bill on the ground and thinking it isn't enough to make it worthwhile to stoop over and pick it up, lol. It's amazing how it adds up over time. Anyway, once we get everything gone, we'll put a camper on our truck and hit the road with our pets. We've been searching for good one but so far none have been right. Also, we would like a brand called Big Foot and they are hard to find. No matter, the right one will show up when it's time. Hubs wants a small aluminum boat for fishing so we'll be on the lookout for a good deal while we're on the road.

Anyway, we can choose to look at my husband's health issues as a sad, horrible thing, or we can choose to make the very most of our time instead. We have chosen to have as much fun and happiness as possible and look forward to many adventures together. Life is all about choices.

I'll be watching the growth of ArtYah. One never knows what the future holds and there may come a day when I'll want to resume online selling. Not the vintage as I'm just destashing my grandmother, mom, and sister's estates, as well as my own collections. It's not something I want to continue once everything is gone. The graphic design business, though, could be done on the road, therefore, I can fall back on it at any time.

My husband is needing more and more of my time and this will progress. Therefore, we have decided to make a complete lifestyle change and become nomatic camping and fishing and following the sun. The winters here are very hard on him and his doctors were so enthusiastic when we asked them about this stating it would be the very best thing for him. We are actually very excited about this change and have been planning and scaling down drastically in preparation. We want to spend time together doing what we both love. So, it wasn't a matter of no sales because sales through Craigslist for my vintage have been amazingly good. It's just a matter of setting new priorities and working together to improve our time together. It's a good thing.

As to Craigslist, I was always fearful about using it and having people come to our home. No more. We have met the best people ever. There have only been a couple of oddballs but we have everything outside in storage buildings and we don't let anyone inside the house and we only allow people to come during daylight hours. It has been especially nice for heavy items that would be expensive to ship. Yes, there are many horror stories about selling and buying on Craigslist but so far (knock on wood) we have not had any serious issues. Oh, and we only accept cash and won't allow PayPal purchases and won't ship. This stops the scammers.

As to The Tinseled Whisker, it came about when I was petting one of my cats on my lap. The sun shone through the window onto his whiskers and they glittered like tinsel. That was the inspiration and seemed to fit. Interestingly, one of the ladies that purchased some of my items for resale in her Etsy shop also has a shop name with the word whiskers in it. She told me that her cat stuck his face too close to a candle and his whiskers curled up and that was her inspiration for her shop name. OMG, we had so much in common, both business-wise and personally. Such a nice person. We ended up talking for a very long time. She's going to watch my ads and call me if something will work for her. I'll pull it and set it aside and when she's in the area she'll drop buy and pick them up.

I price some things high on Craigslist and some things low in groups to attract resellers. It all works. I even have some items as low as $1 - $3 listed and people do come and purchase them. I figure it's a dollar or two we wouldn't have so why not? To not list them is kind of like seeing a dollar bill on the ground and thinking it isn't enough to make it worthwhile to stoop over and pick it up, lol. It's amazing how it adds up over time. Anyway, once we get everything gone, we'll put a camper on our truck and hit the road with our pets. We've been searching for good one but so far none have been right. Also, we would like a brand called Big Foot and they are hard to find. No matter, the right one will show up when it's time. Hubs wants a small aluminum boat for fishing so we'll be on the lookout for a good deal while we're on the road.

Anyway, we can choose to look at my husband's health issues as a sad, horrible thing, or we can choose to make the very most of our time instead. We have chosen to have as much fun and happiness as possible and look forward to many adventures together. Life is all about choices.

I'll be watching the growth of ArtYah. One never knows what the future holds and there may come a day when I'll want to resume online selling. Not the vintage as I'm just destashing my grandmother, mom, and sister's estates, as well as my own collections. It's not something I want to continue once everything is gone. The graphic design business, though, could be done on the road, therefore, I can fall back on it at any time.

All the best to you all and happy holidays. ~ Jae

Yes, fabulous post! Loved the cat stories. Such good info and encouragement in your post. Your husband has a wonderful wife and you both have made an excellent decision. I think it's a great lifestyle and would do it in a heartbeat if it was viable for me with my elderly mom and my crafted products and artwork inventory/supplies. Maybe one day it will be.

If we keep commenting you'll never be able to leave. Thanks for the inspiration about Craiglist. It's a useful place when you know how to use it, as you've outlined. I found a good job years ago with The Marriott Hotels, and this large house that we are renting I was fortunate to pick out from among all of the scammers posts, and there are many! The Gigs section is good for anyone wanting to pick up quick bucks.

We have chosen to have as much fun and happiness as possible and look forward to many adventures together. Life is all about choices

I am sure you will have happiness as you sound to have a very positive state of mind and may you have much fun in your travels, none of us know what is around the corner so maybe we should all follow your example.

I do well on Facebook. I created a business account which is free. You can send your listings to you shop or you can also list things outright on your page without using a selling venue. I also created a PayPal business account. This is free also. If someone from an area where I do not live wants to buy something not listed through a selling venue I can send them an invoice for the item and shipping. It is nice and free.

Originally Posted by TwiganneI do well on Facebook. I created a business account which is free. You can send your listings to you shop or you can also list things outright on your page without using a selling venue. I also created a PayPal business account. This is free also. If someone from an area where I do not live wants to buy something not listed through a selling venue I can send them an invoice for the item and shipping. It is nice and free.

I do have a FB business page. I've heard about the FB shop, where you can sell directly from FB. Do you have to have Shopify or something, because you say that the account is free? Is the FB shop itself free?

All I've done is added the Shop Now button, linked to one of my online stores, to the top right of the business page.

Yes it is a facebook business and it is free. I have never heard of a facebook shop so I don’t know if they are the same or not. I do know whichever one I do have you can list things other than listing in ArtYah or Etsy and posting them to your page. That is why I have a PayPal business account so I don’t have to go through one of the online venues to ship things. I just send the person an invoice and once they pay I ship it to them. Let me know if there is a difference between a shop or business. From my private facebook page I can also sell stuff without it going through my business account. I use that to sell stuff in the local area. The PayPal business account is free too.

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